Bamboo and Wreath

This is a small surimono on yellow-dyed paper that depicts a bamboo stem with a grass wreath. The print contains only two poems: one inside the wreath and one on the left side of the stalk. By skillfully managing the print’s limited space, Maezawa Otei was able to create three zones for inscriptions, for the two poems and for the artist’s signature.

Otei, also known as Maezawa Imon, was a painter and print designer working in Osaka. He was one of many practicing artists who originally came from another province (in his case, Echigo), pointing to the frequency of regional movement within the artist class.